Photo by Matt Moment
We’re celebrating National Poetry Month with works by writers living in the Hudson Valley! Get inspired to write at local scenic spots.
Hudson Valley recommendations are objective, unbiased, and curated by the editorial team. If you buy something through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission at no cost to you.
The poet T. S. Eliot once mused that “April is the cruelest month,” but we beg to differ. In fact, April is National Poetry Month, making it the perfect time to pen pretty phrases in pentameter (that’s a line of poetry comprising five metrical feet). To get in the spirit of National Poetry Month, we’ve assembled published works by authors in the Hudson Valley (plus editor’s picks to give you a feel for each writer) and five scenic spots where you can turn a phrase or two of your own. Check out these chapbooks and collections, then get rhyming!
Who to Read
Foraging for Light, Jan Zlotnik Schmidt
In this 2019 release from SUNY New Paltz Professor Jan Schmidt, she “explores themes of loss and grief, the complexities of familial relationships…and the struggle to maintain feelings of hope and resilience.”
Editor’s Pick: “Bess’s Lament”
In the Shape of a Woman, Lily Greenberg
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In her debut collection, Rockland-based poet Lily Greenberg uses water as a metaphor for womanhood as she details “her experience of growing up as a queer young woman in the American south.”
Editor’s Pick: “After the Eradication of Brown Tail Moths in Deering Oaks Park”
Life-Size, J. R. Solonche
This 2021 collection displays the superlative “brevity, soul, and wit” inherent to J. R. Solonche’s poetry. Nominated for the National Book Award and twice-nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, this writer’s reputation precedes him, yet Life-Size stands firm as an essential work in Solonche’s oeuvre.
Editor’s Pick: “Cinderella”
Paddock, Mary Lou Buschi
In something of a “poetic palindrome,” Paddock follows two lost girls as they write letters to “Dear,” a mother figure for whom they are waiting. The Nyack-based poet ushers her readers “into a lyrical, natural world of image [and] color,” inviting them to “enter the forest and the sea and be changed.”
Editor’s Pick: “Palindrome”
Rethinking the Ground Rules, The Hudson Valley Women’s Writing Group
What happens when seven women from different walks of life—academics, social workers, teachers and lawyers—assemble to read and write poetry over the span of decades? In their second group anthology, this collective offers the “perspective of being women-of-a-certain-age in a culture that tends to render older women invisible or irrelevant” as well as “unique perspectives on memory, joy, resistance, resilience, aging, and transformation.”
Editor’s Pick: “Late Autumn in Woodstock”
Saffron Threaded, A. Anupama
Anupama—a writer, educator, watercolorist, and Pushcart Prize nominee—paints in vibrant hues throughout her chapbook, Saffron Threaded, available through Dancing Girl Press. Her lyrical style is on full display in her poem, “Pepper,” wherein she describes “A roomful of eight-year-olds typing along / to the scratch of my scented marker / on the sheet of roll paper taped to the wall.”
Editor’s Pick: “After Buttered Toast”
Where to Write
Innisfree Garden, Millbrook
Long Dock Park, Beacon
Memorial Park, Nyack
Poets’ Walk Park, Red Hook
Wickham Woodlands, Warwick
Related: These Independent Bookstores in the Hudson Valley Are Delightful
